Don't stop chasing your dream

Turning down the offer, walking away
Finally, Sylvester found a producer who liked what he had written and offered to buy the script for $125,000. He agreed to sell the script but only if he was allowed to play the starring role in the movie. The producer told him there was no way on earth he would let an unknown actor star in the movie, so Sylvester turned down the offer and walked away.

The producer really liked the script and called him back a couple of weeks later with an offer of $250,000, but as before, refused to let him have the starring role in the movie. Once again, Sylvester turned him down. The producer then offered a staggering sum of $325,000 for the script without him in the movie, and, again, Sylvester refused to sell the script. Eventually, the producer agreed to take a chance and let Sylvester play the starring role in the movie but would pay him only $35,000.

Once Sylvester was paid the $35,000, he went back to the liquor store, where he had sold his dog weeks earlier with the hope of finding the man and buying back his best friend. After waiting outside the store for three days, he found the man and offered him $500 to buy his dog back. The man rejected that offer but eventually sold the dog back to Sylvester for $15,000 and a part in the movie. The name of the movie was “Rocky,” and it won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1976 and turned Sylvester Stallone into one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars.